A Day at the Polls

This election has been awash with new applications of technology from start to finish.  From the very beginning, the blog, techpresident, has been documenting how presidential candidates utilize new technologies (especially ones related to social networking and marketing) to their advantage, and occasionally to their peril.

Just based on the first few hours of this election day, however, it seems that new technologies have failed to make the voting process itself any less of a headache.  Voters have experienced wait times in excess of two hours in some places because of computer malfunctions and paper jams.  E-voting machines are not entirely to blame, however, as computer glitches are no match for human error (a precinct in Virginia was opened late because a poll worker overslept) and deliberate voter fraud (some voters in Virginia received phony calls saying their polling location had changed).

Whichever way the election ends up, it will influence how we conduct the next one.  The lessons we learned from the 2000 election resulted in the Help America Vote Act, an attempt to bring our voting system into the 21st century.  It is apparent, however, that in spite of these efforts there continue to be problems with our voting machines and that a large swath of the American public still does not know how to use them.  Virginia and Maryland will return to paper ballots next election, after spending millions of dollars on new equipment, and other states are likely to follow if problems are rampant this election.

Despite all these problems, we here at CSIS entreat you to go out and vote.  True, there’s a risk that you’ll stand in line for several hours, but the next four years are guaranteed to be much longer, so please make your voice heard.  For regularly updated information on events at the polls check out Election Law and OurVoteLive.  For a handy list of all reported problems, check out OurVoteLive’s database.  And remember, if you encounter any problems at the polls, notify your state board of elections or an independent monitoring organization.  Happy voting!